If we all sit around and be optimistic, ten more years will pass and more animals will be endangered and threatened or even wore, extinct. We are at that point. I was just on us fish and wildlife service site and they have a few success stories out of the hundreds of species that are threatened or endangered right here in North America. The list is growing WAY more quickly than species are being removed. Here are the mammals:

http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/SpeciesReport.do?groups=A&listingType=L&mapstatus=1

Here are the fish:

http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/SpeciesReport.do?groups=E&listingType=L&mapstatus=1

there are equally impressive lists for birds, amphibians, and reptiles. What did the last 10 years of optimism accomplish? Someone tell me how that helps other than just accepting the inevitable. That I can understand but there really insn't much to be optimistic about on the endangered species. Just check out these links.